Profits and sales were up in the first quarter at Motorola`s communications sector, which employs 4,300 people in South Florida making pagers, two-way radios and portable, cordless telephones.

But rising business at Motorola`s largest business unit was not enough to boost the company`s overall profits.

Motorola earned $116 million, or 88 cents a share, compared with $127 million, or 98 cents a share, for the year-ago quarter, the company said on Wednesday. Sales for the quarter climbed 8 percent to $2.53 billion.

In a season of sharply falling profits, Wall Street welcomed the modest earnings decline, and Motorola stock shot up 6 3/4 to 62 7/8 in heavy New York Stock Exchange trading.

Motorola said sales and orders rose 9 percent at its $3.6 billion-a-year communications sector. The sector employs 2,400 people at Motorola`s Land Mobile Products Sector in Plantation and 1,900 workers at its Paging and Telepoint Systems Group headquarters in Boynton Beach.

Orders declined at the paging group, which was formed last year to reflect Motorola`s launch of its Silverlink 2000 portable, cordless telephone. Motorola has received orders from several Asian countries for the telepoint systems, which allow people to use cordless telephones in such public venues as shopping centers, airports and stadiums.

The Boynton Beach plant also began shipping a wristwatch pager last summer.

``Even though the United States and the United Kingdom are in a recession, growth is continuing in other parts of the world, especially in the Asia- Pacific region,`` said George Fisher, chairman and chief executive officer. ``Increasing consumer confidence, a low level of inventories and other factors may indicate an easing of recessionary pressures later in the year.``